World’s First Plastic Based LG E-Paper Enters Production

The world’s first electronic paper display that is made of plastic has entered production, LG announced paving the way for the next generation of e-books readers that could be bent to some extent — 40 degrees to be precise from the center of the display. What this means in real life scenarios is that users will be able to bend their e-readers as they would usually do when reading a magazine or newspaper. However, unlike newspapers, the real advantage with e-readers made of the LG produced electronic papers is that users will also be able to catch up with the e-mails or other such tasks while reading.

The new e-Paper by LG features a inch XGA display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and relies on e-ink to render monochrome display of texts and images. However, the biggest USP of the EPD is its ultra thin construction. This has been achieved with the use of plastic that is as thin as a display guard used on cellphones. This has resulted in the EPD being just 0.7mm, just about a third from similar EPD that are made of glass. The use of plastic has also made the LG produced EPD weigh just 14 gms. This in turn has added to the durability of the display, something brought forth in repeated drop tests performed by LG. The e-papers were dropped from a height of about 1.5 meters though the displays not only survived each time but also very devoid of any scratches. Even hitting the displays with a small urethane hammer failed to leave a mark on the e-paper displays.

“With the world’s first plastic EPD, LG Display has once again proven its reputation for leadership and innovation with a product we believe will help greatly popularize the E-Book market,” said Mr. Sang Duck Yeo, Head of Operations for LG Display’s Mobile/OLED division. “Based on our success in mass-producing plastic EPD, we are excited as we look toward applying concepts from this experience to future developments like plastic OLED and flexible displays.”

LG has also come up with a unique method of manufacturing the e-paper displays, the same technique that is usually used to manufacture LCD screen with temperature maintained at 350 degrees. For this, LG had to develop the plastic material that could withstand the production process in a high temperature environment.

Coming to the actual products based on the e-papers, LG stated the displays would reach ODM in China soon so that the first devices based on the e-paper expected to reach markets by early next month itself. However, its the European market that would be the first to have the e-paper and LG hasn’t stated which other countries or regions come next.

Sovan Mandal is the senior tablet and tech corespondent for goodereader.com. He brings a international approach to news that is not just applicable to the North American market, but also Asia, India, Europe and others. Sovy brings his own writing flavor to the website and is interested in Science Fiction, Technology and Writing. Any questions, send an email

Its an interesting concept and a mainstay in science fiction novel of the past century. How this will work out in the real world is anyone’s bet. I suspect that it will take a generation or two before this becomes the replacement for paper that some have a dream of.

Not to mention that this stuff is way less biodegradable than the demonized wood based paper is. The fact that it is reusable does not mean people will be interested in reusing it and some of the ideas that will undoubtedly come to marketers minds for uses are probably not what people have in mind concerning the aggregation and consumption.

Myself for instance, I read about 500-1000 news article every couple days from 100’s of sources. I’m not going to deal with 100’s of little pieces of plastic to consume this content when I already have a perfectly good PC, Laptop, and tablet that does the job exactly how I want it done.

In my mind this seems like a 20th century concept of future media consumption that has already been replaced by much better techniques. With that said, I think this tech will be great for reducing the overall price of mobile media devices if its aimed in that direction.

Hi i’m the owner of hitech24 the blog from which this post was taken
(Under the article you can see via hitech24)
So if you like this blog and this article you should probably check my blog http://hitech24.blogspot.com
because via my blog you can get the latest tech news faster than other blogs
So take a look at my blog